1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to methods and systems for educational institution admissions counseling, and more particularly to a method and system for educational institution selection.
2. Discussion of the Background
When it comes time to look for educational institutions, students and their parents are often at a loss of what to do. Many parents will go out and buy their child a 2,000 page book profiling over 3,000 schools. Such guidebooks provide information about included schools, but the number of choices is overwhelming and there is no clear direction on how to gain a list of schools that are best for the student. Some parents may pay for their child to get private college admissions counseling, which can be very helpful, but typically is only available to families that can afford to pay the many thousands of dollars that these services often can cost. Some students may take the initiative to meet with their guidance counselors at school, and who often are overseeing too many students to give a substantial amount of time in helping students find the right schools.
There are numerous books and websites that can help students narrow their college choices. For example, in his book, My College Finder, Dr. Steven Antonoff has created lists of schools according to topics. For example, there are lists of schools under topics, such as “Colleges that admit many students early,” or “Colleges with excellent theater programs.” Dr. Antonoff gives the example of a student with average grades who desires a Catholic college with a good tennis team. Dr. Antonoff states that this student could look at the different lists under these categories and find schools that are mentioned in each of the lists. However, the problem with this approach is that a student may choose factors that bear very little on the experience the student will have at a chosen school. If the student makes a decision to go to such a Catholic school with the good tennis team, but finds that the size of the school is overwhelming or the student is getting homesick from being too far away from home, the student will not have a positive experience in college.
There are several websites that generate lists of schools according to preferences entered by students. For example, at embark.com, which recently merged with the Princeton Review, a student is asked to answer approximately seventeen questions. Some examples of the questions asked are: “What annual out-of-state tuition levels are you interested in?” “Are you interested in schools based on the percentage of undergraduates who receive financial aid?” “What percentage of applicants accepted interests you?” “Are you interested in schools based on the racial and ethnic diversity of the student body?” “What activities interest you?” “How important to you is a fraternity or sorority presence on campus?” Similarly, at petersons.com, students are asked about ten questions, including questions, such as their preference for faculty/student ratio and religious denomination.
However, such surveys can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Also, the sheer number of questions is often confusing, as typically there is no prioritizing of the many questions asked of the student. Another serious flaw of these systems is the resulting list of schools that are generated. For example, the lists are random in total number, ranging from zero to several hundred or even a few thousand colleges.
Another flaw in the above-mentioned programs is that typically they do not provide a systematic method of screening out unreliable schools. For example, the college selection program at embark.com typically is the only one that asks what level of freshman retention rates a student would prefer. However, the problem is that the student is left unguided as to an appropriate retention rate for schools at various levels of competitiveness. In addition, leaving such decisions to the uninstructed preference of students can lead to unreliable and often random results.